Category: Advisory Board

Mr Karl Westerlund holds a BSc (Honours) in Geochemistry, and MSc and PhD degrees in Geology from the University of Cape Town. He started off his career as a diamond and kimberlite researcher in the late 1990’s and worked as a consultant in the diamond exploration industry for five years.

Over the last 15 years Karl has worked mainly within mineral sector development projects funded through bilateral and multilateral development partners, as an expert and project manager, while he is also engaged in environmental and social studies as well as mineral exploration work for the private sector. Thus, he has very wide experience from consulting for both governmental clients and private sector in diverse areas such as strategic mineral sector studies; mineral sector and environmental policy and law; institutional development; local, regional and countrywide environmental and social impact assessments; development of regulatory guidelines; artisanal and small scale mining studies; mineral sector promotion; establishment of geochemical laboratories; mineral exploration, etc.

Karl’s experience includes the management or co-management of some ten large multi-disciplinary development projects with project implementation times ranging from 1-3 years. He has worked in highly varying environmental and social contexts, with working experience from some 15-20 countries, predominantly in Africa and Asia.

Mr Peter Wilkinson has been n international expert in anti-corruption practice and corporate responsibility and a consultant to Transparency International for many years. Peter has developed, authored and advised on numerous standard-setting global anti-corruption codes, indices and tools including Transparency International’s Business Principles for Countering Bribery and the SOE Principles for Countering Corruption. He has authored many extensively downloaded guidance publications for Transparency International UK. These include guidance on anti-bribery adequate procedures and the UK Bribery Act 2010, the content for an extensive corporate anti-bribery portal and the indicators for a corporate anti-bribery benchmarking group.

Mr Wilkinson has been a member of numerous working groups including anti-corruption initiatives of the UN Global Compact, the Global Reporting Initiative and the OECD.

Since 2015 Ms Sulkhova has led her own consulting company that provides a wide range of consulting servicesin safety culture and leadership, HSE management systems, risk management, personal and process technical safety, crisis management preparedness, – aimed to assesses and to enhance clients’ HSE culture and performance. Her company also delivers accredited NEBOSH, IOSH, Energy Institute courses and develops bespoke HSE training. The main clients are large multinational and national companies within the oil and gas, metal and mining, chemical, pharmaceutical, food and beverage and manufacturing companies in North America, Russia and CIS, those which are interested in achieving stronger and more sustainable HSE performance.

Ms Sulkhova also serves as a Trustee and non-executive Director on NEBOSH Board of Directors (National Examinational Board of Occupational Safety and Health, UK, – one of the largest awarding body offering globally-recognised HSE qualifications). As an independent trustee Ms. Sulkhova provides governance and assurance to ensure that NEBOSH complies with its legal obligations, manages key risks and financial resources effectively and sets and delivers adequate strategies to meet its objectives – the preservation of health in workplaces worldwide by the promotion of high standards of health, safety and environmental protection at work through study and competence in risk management.

Ms Sulkhova is a US Certified Safety Professional and a Canadian Registered Safety Professional. She is a professional member of American and Canadian Societies of Safety Engineers (ASSE, CSSE). She holds a M.Sc. Degree in Occupational Safety and Health from Columbia Southern University, US, and a M.Sc. Degree in Environmental Sciences and Policy from Northern Arizona University, US .